Today's Bounty..
Today’s bounty from our Summer garden has brought a deep satisfaction, by way of a delicious homemade meal with fresh ingredients from right outside our door. There’s just something about a beautiful plate of Italian food anyway, isn’t there? It always seems like the perfect option, whether it’s a casual meal, a big family dinner or having guests over.
Of course, when I refer to one of our dishes as “Italian”, I can’t exactly claim any sort of authenticity. I’m not Italian, nor have I been to Italy (though it’s near the top of my bucket list!). I have no formal training in a kitchen whatsoever, either. What I do have, however, is an incredible fondness for the tomato, Italian herbs, and pasta! Luckily, my wife has taught me to cook a little over the years, and I’m rather proud of the Italian foods we make together, especially when there’s fresh summertime ingredients available.
Yesterday was a hot sunny day, followed by a night of cool rain- and this morning I marveled at the crazy amount of suddenly-red cherry tomatoes we had, just waiting to be picked! Spotting several nice red Roma tomatoes as well, I couldn’t wait to get to work on dinner. In the afternoon I set forth into my tomato-jungle and it took no time at all to overfill my colander with a heaping pile of tomatoes.
It was far more than I needed for a pot of tomato sauce, but that’s a wonderful thing! Extra tomatoes processed today will be used tomorrow, or maybe the next day- it’s always a good idea to plan ahead and use your fresh produce as it comes in, to minimize losses to spoilage.
My wife and I got right to work sorting and blanching the tomato harvest. We had several Romas that were not quite ready; they had fallen from the plants as I rustled around the garden (those went into a paper bag to finish ripening). I started multitasking on the other elements of the Sauce while Rachael continued the tomato blanching and peeling process.
On to the RECIPE!
-Meat Sauce with Whole Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs-
*This recipe is for a whole large pot of Sauce- more than is needed for tonight’s dish. We always purposely make a whole pot, because- WE WANT LEFTOVERS!
You will need:
1 large saucepot
1 large frying pan
Ingredients:
1 lb Bob Evans “Hot” ground sausage
2 lbs lean ground beef
About 4 lbs blanched whole cherry and Roma tomatoes
1 large Vidalia onion
3-5 garlic cloves
1 tbsp chopped chives
2 tsp chopped oregano
1 tsp chopped thyme
A few chopped sage leaves
Dash ground black pepper
2 pint jars pasta sauce base
*If you don’t have homemade canned tomato sauce, you can surely use whatever brand you prefer. This came out great with “Chunky Garden Vegetable” Ragu sauce! We used two 23.5oz jars of store-bought Sauce for this recipe.
-First, I spread out the 1 lb of Bob Evans Hot Sausage in a large frying pan and set it on the burner at medium setting.
-In your saucepot, drop 1 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil, also on medium heat.
-While the hot sausage is frying, chop and add Vidalia onion and minced garlic. Throw that in the olive oil at the bottom of your saucepot while it’s heating up.
-Rinse and prep fresh herbs: Oregano, Chives, Thyme, and Sage. You can mix all the chopped herbs together, then split them in half, adding one half to the onion and garlic sauté, followed by the dash of ground black pepper.
-When your onions have started to carmelize and sweeten, add your whole peeled fresh Roma and cherry tomatoes and turn the heat down a little to medium-low. Stir them well, so the flavorful sauté is all over the tomatoes.
-Your sausage should be done by now- set it on paper towels to drain, and start your ground beef in the same pan with the sausage grease. Season the beef with the remaining sage, oregano, thyme and chives, plus pepper and salt if you wish.
-Add your two jars of pasta sauce to your saucepot, and stir it all together. Let it simmer on the back burner.
-When the ground beef is done, drain the fluids off and either chop or crumble by hand. Add both the beef and the hot sausage into the Sauce- stir well, turn heat down to Low.
Allow to slow simmer for about 30 minutes for maximum flavor development- stirring occasionally. Serve over your favorite Pasta for a delicious, soul satisfying Comfort Food.
Happy Cooking!
